I'm so glad that February doesn't have a 29th this year. This means Clement doesn't have to turn 7 months, right?
NYC needs more Carhartts.
An update:
Over the last month, our routine has developed into the following: Wake up about 8:30. Breakfast. Play. Nap from about 10:30 until 12:30 or 1:00. Lunch. Play or go out. Afternoon nap starting at 2:30 or 3... lasts 1.5 to 2 hours. Dinner by 6. Bed by 8:15 or so-- I try to be consistent. He always falls asleep easily, it's just the resettling himself that's hard when he starts to stir-- sometimes harder than others. There is a feeding that happens around 5. (Sometimes this is what starts to creep up to 4 or 3 or 2:30-- and the lines get pretty blurry the rest of the night about who's expecting what.) Then up at 8:30 the next morning. The days when he cooperates perfectly are total heaven. I love it. His afternoon nap aligns with Josephine's... it's glorious. But to be honest, most days have at least one glitch somewhere-- and most frequently, it's a second overnight waking that I feel like I have to feed because he absolutely won't settle.
He eats a little food at each meal, now, too. So far: rice cereal, green beans, peas, sweet potato, apple, banana.
Eczema... So the Vitamin D wasn't the miracle cure I hoped, though I do think it helps. I'm now off dairy, egg, gluten (as of Feb 11), and soy (as of Feb 22). I tried Dreft when we ran out of Charlie's Soap. I've ordered a lotion containing neem oil at the suggestion of my aunt. I have taken away his stuffed toys and sprayed the carpet with a vinegar solution (again) to combat dust mites. His trunk, legs, and arms do continue to look better-- nearly clear... but they aren't soft again yet, and he does still scratch at them persistently, so I know he's still itching and miserable. His cheeks have remained easily aggravated and chapped. I suppose the next step would be to cut out all nuts, but that's being hard to do with so much else out of my diet. I rely on almond milk, peanut butter, and several nut/seed based snacks to supplement what is otherwise a diet of meat/fish, fruits and vegetables. With the stress of the next couple weeks, I don't know that I'll take on that additional challenge. Might just hold out hope that some environmental changes with moving to Texas do the trick.
Clement has known his name for a couple months now-- that's something I keep forgetting to write. I noticed he would look up at me if I said his name, even when I was just talking about him to someone else. He also know's Josephine's name. It's kind of like saying "LOOK, SQUIRREL" to my in-law's dog, who then excitedly focuses her full attention on finding the squirrel. You can be sitting alone in a room with Clement and say, "Where's Josephine?" and he get's these big eyes, immediately turning to look at the opening to the room, first. If she's not there, his eyes dart around to every other possible hiding place. One must keep tabs on a threatening nemesis!
I think he might know who "Dad" is, too, but those reactions are a little harder to interpret. I have seen him look over to Sean's side of the bed when I ask (we do a lot of hanging out on the bed-- it's the only place where we all have comfortable seating-- so that's a reasonable response).
He's at a busy age (for a kid that doesn't crawl). The down side is that he's VERY distractible while nursing. It's a major battle to keep him under the nursing cover in public, so I've pretty much given up on that. And even at home, he hears every noise and thinks it means he needs to stop what he's doing and investigate. Super annoying when you're trying to get through a feeding.
The flip side is that I LOVE his heightened levels of engagement. He's got quite the bag of tricks. One is where he shakes his head, waits for you to shake yours back, then returns the head shake. He will play this forever. Don't have a video of it yet. It's just adorable how fun he thinks this is.
His latest is a punching motion where he holds his right fist out like a club and just pounds it down on whatever is around. He's VERY proud of this skill and will show it off the second he has a captive audience.
Video here.
It's always fun to watch him play with his toys. He sees one he wants and rarely just reaches for it-- he pounces. He'll eye it for a few seconds, like a cat, and then suddenly lunge and grab. If he misses, he pulls back, reevaluates, pounces harder. Funnily, he gravitates towards the exact toys that Josephine had zero interest in. This has been rewarding for me, because I had purchased a variety for Josephine when she was a baby, only to have her ignore them. I kept them and feel very redeemed as they've now been wholly enjoyed-- just by a different baby. I also see this as a further indication of my genetic influence on Clement: he likes the toys I like! Just like his love for jumping mirrors the fact that I adored a johnny jump-up when I was a baby, too. He's MINE!! Not that he looks much like me... yet.
Speaking of looks, his hair is starting to fill in a little bit! Still red! Such a fair child.
Happy Never 7 Months Birthday, Clementude!
